Reports suggest Dad likes minivans, hybrids just as much as Mom

The family "ride" may depend on who is doing the shopping. But research bucks the theory that Dad just wants something fast and sleek while Mom's drawn to practical. In fact, Dad likes a good minivan or hybrid just as much as Mom.

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By Lois M. Collins

Holland Sentinel

By Lois M. Collins

Posted Jan. 21, 2014 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 21, 2014 at 4:32 PM

By Lois M. Collins

Posted Jan. 21, 2014 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 21, 2014 at 4:32 PM

The family "ride" may depend on who is doing the shopping. But research bucks the theory that Dad just wants something fast and sleek while Mom is drawn to a purely practical vehicle.
In reality, Dad likes a good minivan or hybrid just as much as Mom, although men really are more likely than women to wish for a fast sport car, writes Jerry Edgerton of CBS News MoneyWatch.
Based on an interview with iSeeCars cofounder and CEO Phong Ly, Edgerton writes that men like "fast, flashy cars." Ly told him that men are "performance oriented, even if they have to shell out more money. Women are looking for the best value."
A study by iSeeCars, which aggregates information on car sales from dealerships and other online car-shopping services, showed women are twice as likely as men to shop for Kias and 67 percent more likely to shop for a Hyundai. Edgerton noted that both are Korean car models that are well known for low prices.
The study also found the genders shop about equally for German brands and for gas-electric hybrids. Men are more than twice as apt to shop for diesel vehicles and all-electric cars. They are also more likely to look at high-end vehicles costing more than $45,000, Edgerton wrote.
That echoes findings from a study by TrueCar in 2011, using data from 2010 purchases.
In covering that study, the Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Welsh wrote, "The top 10 models that had greater than 50 percent retail sales to females and at least 1,000 annual retail sales in 2010 were: Volkswagen New Beetle, Kia Spectra, Nissan Rogue, Volkswagen Eos, Hyundai Entourage, Volvo S40, Jeep Compass, Honda CR-V, Nissan Sentra and Hyundai Tucson."
As for men, he wrote, "The top 10 models that had greater than 50 percent retail sales to males and at least 1,000 annual retail sales in 2010 were: Porsche 911, GMC Sierra, Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-Series, BMW M3, Ford Ranger, Toyota Tundra, Dodge Ram and Audi S5."
In a separate study last November, iSeeCars noted that men and women have different color tastes in vehicles, too. It spent a year tracking which cars, including the colors, men and women website visitors asked about.
According to the analysis, "Overall men have a stronger preference for red cars than women by 12.3 percent, for orange cars by 11.8 percent and for black cars by 9.6 percent. Women have a stronger preference for silver cars than men by 9.2 percent, brown cars by 9.1 percent and gold cars by 7.3 percent."
Overall, men are more likely to prefer red, orange, black, white, green and gray, while women are more likely to prefer silver, brown, gold, beige, blue and yellow.
"These study results could suggest that women are more practical in their choices," Ly said in a written statement. "For the most part, they may just want to buy a reasonably priced car that safely drives them around. On the other hand, for men, perhaps they may be a bit more idealistic about cars, preferring something that has speed and is fun to drive."%3Cimg%20src%3D%22http%3A//beacon.deseretconnect.com/beacon.gif%3Fcid%3D138999%26pid%3D46%22%20/%3E